Hydrocarbon fluids find widespread use as solvents such as in adhesives, cleaning fluids, solvents for explosives, for decorative coatings and printing inks, light oils for use in applications such as metal extraction, metalworking or demoulding and industrial lubricants, and drilling fluids. The hydrocarbon fluids can also be used as extender oils in adhesives and sealant systems such as silicone sealants and as viscosity depressants in plasticised polyvinyl chloride formulations and as carrier in polymer formulation used as flocculants for example in water treatment, mining operations or paper manufacturing and also used as thickener for printing pastes, as plasticizers in tyre materials. Hydrocarbon fluids may also be used as solvents in a wide variety of other applications such as chemical reactions.
The chemical nature and composition of hydrocarbon fluids varies considerably according to the use to which the fluid is to be put. Important properties of hydrocarbon fluids are the distillation range generally determined by ASTM D-86 or the ASTM D-1160 vacuum distillation technique used for heavier materials, flash point, density, aniline point as determined by ASTM D-611, aromatic content, sulphur content, viscosity, colour and refractive index.
These fluids tend to have narrow boiling point ranges as indicated by a narrow range between Initial Boiling Point (IBP) and Final Boiling Point (FBP) according to ASTM D-86. The Initial Boiling Point and the Final Boiling Point will be chosen according to the use to which the fluid is to be put. However, the use of the narrow cuts provides the benefits of a narrow flash point and may also prevent the emission of Volatile Organic Compounds which are important for safety reasons. The narrow cut also brings important fluid properties such as a better defined aniline point or solvency power, then viscosity, and defined evaporation conditions for systems where drying is important, and finally better defined surface tension.
Nowadays, biodegradability is a requirement for these specific fluids.
US2009/0014354 discloses biodegradable cuts boiling at 356-413° C., and comprising mostly isoparaffins with an amount of naphthenics of not less than 7%. The cuts originate from biological origin.
EP2368967 discloses a solvent composition containing 5 to 30% of C10-C20 n-alkanes, and 70 to 95% of C10-C20 iso-alkanes, by weight, said solvent composition being produced from raw materials of biological origin. The solvent composition has a boiling range of 180 to 340° C.
WO00/20534 discloses a solvent issued from Fischer-Tropsch synthesis and which is typically a biodegradable synthetic middle distillate cut and has an isoparaffins to n-paraffins mass ratio of between about 1:1 to about 12:1. The boiling range is above 80° C. A preferred composition is one which has at least 30% (mass) of the isoparaffins as mono-methyl branched.
WO2006/084285 discloses a hydrocarbon fluid composition of synthetic origin comprising isoparaffins and a minimum initial boiling point to maximum final boiling point at or within the range of 110° C. to 350° C. and which is said to be biodegradable. The cetane number is said to be less than 60. The applicant is also marketing a composition ISOPAR®, which typically contains more than 20% naphthenic compounds.
US2012/0283492 discloses a process for hydrogenating a low-sulphur feed into a fluid having a boiling range of not more than 80° C. and having an isoparaffin content of at most about 52% by weight.
US2013/0001127 discloses a process to prepare very low-sulphur, very low aromatic hydrocarbon fluids having a boiling range of not more than 80° C. and having an isoparaffin content of at most 40% by weight.
US2014/0323777 discloses a process for manufacturing an aviation fuel oil base having an isoparaffin content of 80% by weight or more but at most 91.6%, and an aromatic content of less than 0.1 vol %.
There is still a need for fluids with high biodegradability and being of biological origin.